


The Perfect First Date

by ViennatheDachshund



Category: Free!
Genre: First Dates, Fluff, M/M, Pining, Senpai-Kouhai Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-22 00:50:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15570099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViennatheDachshund/pseuds/ViennatheDachshund
Summary: Rei loves beautiful things...





	The Perfect First Date

Ever since he was little, Rei had always loved beautiful things. Beautiful seashells, beautiful clothes, beautiful sports. If it was beautiful, Rei loved and admired it. Which is why, when Rei saw Haruka-senpai’s beautiful freestyle, a thing he thought he would never find beautiful, he knew he had to join the swim club. However, Rei was beginning to realize that it wasn’t just Haruka-senpai’s swimming he found beautiful. His eyes, his hair, the way the water from the pool trickled down his neck, past his chest, and over his well defined abs...every part of him, every inch was just so-

 

“Hey Rei-chan! Why are you staring at Haru-chan?” Nagisa blurted out in the middle of the locker room.

 

Rei jolted out of his fantasy, the tips of his ears turning pink. “I- I am not!” Rei shouted back at Nagisa.

 

“Did you have a question for me, Rei?” Haru asked, looking right at him. That was another thing that was beautiful about Haruka-senpai; he always looked right at Rei when he spoke to him.

 

“No, I just…” Rei trailed off, his ears still burning.

 

“Aw, does Rei-chan have a crush on Haru-chan?” Nagisa teased.

 

“Nagisa-kun!” Rei snapped, but Nagisa just giggled mirthfully.

 

“Now, now, Nagisa,” Makoto said, “stop teasing Rei. I’m sure he doesn’t have crush on Haru.”

 

“That’s right. I’m sure Rei was just noticing my new swimsuit,” Haru said, looking happily at his trunks.

 

“Another one?!” Makoto exclaimed.

 

“Haru-chan, it looks exactly the same,” Nagisa said doubtfully.

 

Haru huffed. “It’s not my fault you can’t notice the differences. Right, Rei?”

 

Why was he feeling like this? It’s not that he had a crush on Haruka-senpai; he just found him beautiful. Yet having all of them just dismiss the idea as if it was a joke...why did it hurt so much?

 

“Rei?”

 

Rei looked up to see that everyone’s eyes were on him.

 

“Ah! Would you look at the time! I really must be going now so if you’d please excuse me,” Rei said. And with that he grabbed his bag and sprinted out the door, leaving the other three behind in utter confusion.

 

He continued to run until he was at his train stop. Ever so slightly out of breath, he sat down and placed his face in his hands. Why had he just run out so awkwardly like that?

 

“Not beautiful at all…” he muttered through his fingers.

 

“Rei-chan! Rei-chan wait up!” called a voice from the distance.

 

He looked up to see Nagisa-kun running towards him, tie flapping in the wind.

 

“Rei-chan...is so...fast,” he huffed when he finally caught up. “I guess you used to be a track start for a reason, huh?” Nagisa smiled and plopped himself down next to Rei.

 

“Yeah…” Rei said, not looking at him. How could he after he embarrassed himself like that?

 

Nagisa continued to stare at him with his big round eyes, slowly leaning more and more in towards Rei until couldn’t stand it.

 

“What is it?” Rei snapped.

 

Nagisa just continued to stare at him. Then he smiled. “You really do have a crush on Haru-chan, huh Rei-chan?”

 

“W-what?! That’s preposterous? Me? Have crush on Haruka-senpai?” he forced a big laugh, trying to brush it off as quickly as possible.

 

“Then why were you staring at him?”

 

Rei froze. “T-that’s…” he stuttered. “I just think he’s beautiful! That’s all, okay? I don’t have a crush on him, he just fits nicely into my philosophy of beauty. That’s it!”

 

“So you just like Haru-chan for how he looks? That’s kind of shallow, Rei-chan…”

 

“No- that’s not…That’s not it!” Rei shouted. He wasn’t shallow. Why was Nagisa-kun always so rude?

 

“Then what else  _ do _ you like about Haru-chan?”

 

“Well, he’s a good senpai, of course. He’s helps us, but not in an overly pushy way. He’s also kind and talented and gentle-” Rei covered his mouth with his hand. Wasn’t this...the words you’d use to describe a crush? Rei hid his face in his hands again. “Dang it…” he whispered.

 

Nagisa laughed. “I knew Rei-chan had a crush! Why don’t you ask Haru-chan out?”

 

“I can’t do that!” Rei exclaimed.

 

“Why not?” Nagisa asked, genuinely confused.

 

“Aren’t...aren’t he and Makoto-senpai…?”

 

Nagisa continued to look at him curiously.

 

“You know what, nevermind.”

 

“Ehhh? Tell me!” Nagisa demanded

 

“No! If I’m wrong, you’ll laugh at me,” Rei said, crossing his arms.

 

“No I won’t!” Nagisa insisted “Tell meeeee,” he whined, nudging Rei with his head.

 

How bothersome. “Aren’t he and Makoto-senpai dating?” Rei blurted out.

 

Nagisa looked up at Rei and blinked twice. Then he burst out into laughter.

 

“You said you wouldn't laugh!” Rei yelled, but Nagisa just continued to laugh his head off.

 

“Sorry, sorry,” Nagisa managed finally, “it’s just so silly! Haru-chan and Mako-chan dating?” he continued to giggle.

 

“Well they’re so close,” Rei said.

 

“Of course they are! They’ve known each other forever!”

 

“So...they aren’t dating?”

 

“Nope. They’re both one hundred percent single.”

 

“I see…” Well, he’d give it some thought.

* * *

 

The next thing Rei knew, he was standing outside Haruka-senpai’s classroom.

 

He went to open the door, then pulled back. What was he doing here? This was absolutely ridiculous. There was no way he could ask out Haruka-senpai. He better just go back to his classroom and-

 

“Oof!”

 

Right has he turned to leave, someone else ran smack dab into him.

 

“Owww! Rei-chan, you’re a lot harder than you look,” Nagisa said, rubbing his head.

 

“Nagisa-kun! What are you doing here?!” Rei shouted in a whisper, annoyance creeping up in his voice.

 

“I could ask you the same thing,” Nagisa said, not making any effort to keep his voice down.

 

“Ssshhh!” Rei hushed, putting a finger to his lips. If he was caught now he’d be toast.

 

“What? Why are you shushing me? That’s kind of mean, Rei-chan…” Nagisa whined, still speaking loudly.

 

“ _ Please _ , Nagisa-kun,” Rei begged, shooting a quick glance at the classroom, praying that they were still unnoticed.

 

“Oh! Are you here to see Haru-chan?”

 

Rei flinched.

 

“No worries! I’ll get him for you,” Nagisa said as he went over to the classroom.

 

“Wait, Nagisa-kun, I-”

 

“Haru-chan! Rei-chan has a question for you!” Nagisa called out as he slammed open the classroom door. “Bye bye, Rei-chan. Good luck~” he sang as he skipped off down the hall.

 

Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable.

 

Okay, he just had to collect his thoughts. What was it he was going to say again? He had researched different ways to ask out a senpai, but all the research seemed to have left his brain.

 

“Rei, you wanted to see me?” Haru stood in the doorway with his hip cocked to one side. The light streaming in from the windows cast a soft glow around him. His blue eyes shined as he looked at Rei.

 

Rei felt his mouth go dry. He swallowed hard. What was he going to ask again?

 

“Rei?” Haru asked again, his soft voice escaping from those beautiful lips.

 

Rei could feel himself beginning to sweat.

 

“I was just going to ask if you got the new training regiment from Gou-san! Yes! That’s exactly what I was going to ask!” Rei spat out suddenly, forcing a laugh.

 

“No. I didn’t know she made one.”

 

“Yes, well, I have now delivered that information to you,” Rei said, placing his hands on his hips, hoping to detract Haruka-senpai’s eyes from his shaking knees.

 

“I’ll go see her then,” Haru said, stepping past Rei.

 

His chance! He totally missed his chance!

 

“Wait!” Rei cried out in impulse.

 

Haru turned and looked at him, his head tilted slightly. “Was there something else?”

 

It was now or never. But why did he always have to look at Rei like that? What was he supposed to do? He struggled to remember any of the articles he had read last night, but he panicked, bowed super low, and blurted out: “Haruka-senpai, please go on a date with me!” 

 

He blushed furiously. His voice had cracked slightly at the end. He bit his lip and stared at his feet, not daring to raise his head to see Haruka-senpai’s face. How embarrassing...

 

“Sure,” Haru said.

 

Rei lifted his head slightly. “Eh?” Did he just say yes?

 

“I said I’ll go on a date with you,” Haru said, his expression cool as always.

 

“Really?” Rei asked, shooting upright.

 

“Yes. Does Saturday evening work for you?” he said.

 

“Yes! Saturday! That’s perfect.” He was willing to agree with anything at this point.

 

“Okay. We can meet in town,” Haru said. “I’ll see you at practice.” Then he turned and walked off the other way.

 

Rei stood there a long time, soaking in what just happened. Then he clutched his heart.

 

It was beating so fast, he thought it might fly away.

“Nagisa-kun! I need to know what you would do if you were taking Haruka-senpai on a date!” Rei demanded over the phone

 

_ “Rei-chan, it’s one in the morning….”  _ Nagisa groaned sleepily from the other line.

 

“It doesn’t matter what time it is! My date with Haruka-senpai is in precisely sixteen hours and forty-two minutes! That’s hardly any time to prepare! I’ve been researching endlessly on dating theory, but no one can seem to agree on  _ anything _ ! I want to impress Haruka-senpai, but one article says that you shouldn’t get too fancy on the first date or you could scare him away! Then this one says that if you do something too cheap, the person might think you don’t care enough about them to spend a decent amount of money! Then  _ this _ one says you should do something unique to the person’s taste, but we can’t go  _ swimming _ for our first date because we do that in club all the time and-”

 

_ “Why don’t you just take him out for dinner and movie?” _ Nagisa mumbled.

 

“Nagisa-kun, are you even listening to me!? Dinner and a movie is the  _ most _ cliche first date I could possibly think of! I told you I want to do something special! Perfect! Don’t you understand, Nagisa-kun?...Nagisa-kun?” 

 

All that could be heard was the faint sound of Nagisa-kun’s snoring.

 

Rei sighed and hung up the phone, then went back to one of the many research articles surrounding him. He  _ would _ find the perfect date event!

* * *

 

Rei waited for Haruka-senpai in the park by town. He had stayed up all night researching different dating theories, but he ran out of time and decided to go with dinner and a movie like Nagisa-kun had suggested.

 

Rei sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. The concealer he had used may have hid his dark circles, but he still felt a little woozy from the lack of sleep.

 

“Rei, I’m here,” Haru said softly.

 

He opened his eyes and was immediately revitalized by what he saw. Haruka-senpai had chosen a navy cardigan over a dark t-shirt and light tan capris as his outfit. While Rei typically described Haruka-senpai as “beautiful”, he would definitely go so far to say he was “cute” or “adorable” in this ensemble. 

 

“I hope you weren’t waiting long,” Haru said.

 

“Not at all. I just got here actually,” Rei replied with a smile.

 

“Shall we get going then?”

 

“Yes, of course.”

 

The two chatted lightly on the way to the restaurant, and were seated comfortably at a table for two.

 

“The salted mackerel and pineapple dinner is supposed to be one of their specialties,” Rei said as he flipped through the menu.

 

Haru peeked at him over the top of his own menu, his eyes twinkling happily at the mention of his favorite dish.

 

Rei chuckled slightly and then motioned the waiter over. “Two of the mackerel dinners, please,” he said.

 

“Of course,” the waiter said, jotting down the order then whisking it off to the kitchen.

 

“Thank you,” Haru said, a small smile appearing on his face. “You must have looked at this place ahead of time for me.”

 

“Not at all! I’ve been meaning to try it for quite some time,” Rei lied. Of course he had researched what places would have Haruka-senpai’s favorite dish, but he didn’t want to seem like he was trying to hard.

 

“Your dinners,” the waiter said, placing the dishes down.

 

Haru’s eyes shimmered with excitement as he picked up his fork and began to dine on his fish.

 

Rei watched him happily for a moment, then began to eat his own meal. He took a few bites...it wasn’t bad, in fact the taste was quite good, he just didn’t feel like eating for some reason.

 

“Did you not like the food?” Haru asked when he had finished his meal.

 

In the end, Rei had only picked at his fish slightly and then decided he didn’t want anymore.

 

“No. I just foolishly had a snack later in the day,” Rei lied, giving Haruka-senpai a reassuring smile. He didn’t want to worry him over something so silly as a lack of appetite.

 

“Oh, okay,” Haru said.

 

The two paid for their meals and then began the walk over to the theater.

 

“What are we seeing again?” Haru asked.

 

“ _ A Rat’s Life 2 _ ,” Rei said, “it’s supposedly quite popular.”

 

“Something else you’ve been meaning to see for a while?” 

 

“Ah, well...something like that.” Rei blushed.

 

The two grabbed their seats and waited for the movie to begin, but Rei was already shivering. Were movie theaters always this cold?

 

“Are you cold?” Haru asked, looking up at Rei with his pretty eyes.

 

“I’m fine. They must have the air conditioning on high is all,” he said.

 

“Here, I’ll help,” Haru said, wrapping arms around Rei’s arm and leaning his head on Rei’s shoulder.

 

Rei could feel his face heat up. He was  _ so  _ cute.

 

The movie began and Haru nestled down into Rei even more. He seemed to be enjoying himself, for which Rei was thankful, but he himself was growing more and more exhausted by the minute. Of course it wasn’t Haruka-senpai’s fault, it was his own for foolishly staying up all night.

 

The lights came up and Haru sat up in his seat.

 

“That was good, don’t you think, Rei?”

 

Rei closed his eyes for a second. He was so tired he was beginning to feel dizzy.

 

“Rei, are you okay?” Haru asked, peering into his face.

 

Rei’s eyes flung open. “Of course! Sorry, yes the movie was quite good! Very enjoyable,” he replied in a generic manner.

 

“Rei, are you sure-”

 

“Oh! I have an idea!” Rei said, springing up out of his chair “Why don’t we go for a walk together?” Yes, a walk might wake him up, plus it was number seven on the “ _ Top Ten Things Do on a Date” _ article he had read earlier.

 

“Okay…” Haru said.

 

The two walked along the shore together in silence. Despite what he hoped, the walk wasn’t making Rei feel any better. In fact, it was making him feel worse. He felt cold and shaky and out of breath, even though they weren’t walking fast at all. He felt Haruka-senpai’s hand wrap around his own, and normally he would be delighted, but the giddiness from that was only making his dizziness worse. Everything seemed to be in motion. Then suddenly everything was upside down.

 

Rei closed his eyes tight, wishing desperately for everything to stop. He felt a hand on his forehead and opened his eyes to see Haru kneeling in front of him, hand on his own forehead for comparison. 

 

He must have fallen over at some point.

 

“Rei, you have a bad fever,” Haru said plainly.

 

Not even feeling up to arguing, Rei whimpered a small “sorry”.

 

Haru stood up and looked around. “My house isn’t far from here,” he said, “can you make it there?” He extended a hand out to Rei.

 

Rei gave a small nod, unable to speak because he was fighting back tears. He took Haruka-senpai’s hand and was helped to his feet. He wobbled a little bit, but Haru steadied him.

 

“Here,” Haru said, offering out his arm, “you can lean on me.”

 

“thank you…” Rei said softly as he took Haruka-senpai’s arm. He pouted the whole way to his house. His first date had become such an utter dud.

* * *

 

“Here, sit down,” Haru said when they entered his home. He flipped on the light switch and sat Rei down on the floor, then proceeded to take his shoes off for him.

 

He was hopeless. Purely pathetic.

 

“Go take a bath. I’ll lay out some pajamas for you, then I’m going to the convenience store get you medicine,” Haru instructed.

 

Was Haruka-senpai telling him to stay the night? Rei opened his mouth to protest-

 

“You’re not thinking about traveling home with how sick you are, are you?” he said, shooting Rei a sharp look.

 

“no…” Rei replied, giving up any hope of retaining his dignity.

 

“Good, then I’ll go upstairs and start the water,” he said kicking off his own shoes.

 

Rei stood up slowly and carefully made his way up the stairs. He stripped down and eased himself into the tub.

 

“I’m going to the convenience store. The pajamas are out here for you,” Haru called to him from the other side of the door.

 

“Okay,” Rei said. He sighed and sank deeper into the water, the steam from the bath soothing his tired body, but not his saddened heart. How could it? He had wanted this date to be  _ perfect _ . 

 

He sat with that thought running through his mind until the water began to grow cold. However, he did not want to make himself even sicker, so he stepped out of the bath and changed into the set of pajamas Haruka-senpai had left for him; gray sweatpants and a dark, long sleeve thermal. He couldn’t help but smile slightly at how well they fit. He was lucky that he was so close in height to Haruka-senpai.

 

“Haruka-senpai?” Rei called, stepping out of the bathroom.

 

“In here,” Haru called from the bedroom.

 

Rei entered the room and saw Haruka-senpai peeling back the covers to his bed.

 

“Here,” Haru said, pointing at the bed, “sit down.”

 

“But that’s  _ your _ bed…” Rei objected.

 

“So?” Haru said plainly.

 

Realizing there was no point in arguing, Rei sat down obediently and Haruka-senpai pulled the covers up over him.

 

“Now take this,” he said, handing Rei a glass of water and some medicine.

 

Rei did was he was told and handed the glass back to Haruka-senpai, who then went and pulled out a guest futon from the closet and set it up for himself.

 

Rei’s shoulders slumped and his lower lip jutted out.

 

“Rei, what’s wrong?” Haru asked, looking at him with those beautiful eyes.

 

“Nothing…” he said. But it wasn’t nothing. “I just-” Rei bit his lip. “I just wanted this date to be  _ perfect _ , but I ended up ruining it,” he said, his voice wavering. “I don’t know why you agreed to go out with me, but after today, I wouldn’t blame you if you never wanted to again.” 

 

He couldn’t keep it in anymore. Tears bubbled up and rolled down his cheeks, falling in droplets on the covers. He was pathetic, but he didn’t care anymore. It was better to shatter Haruka-senpai’s expectations now rather than to keep hiding from him that he was actually a looser.

 

“Rei,” Haru said, his voice so close that Rei had to look up. Haru was sitting on the edge of the bed. He leaned in a planted his soft lips on Rei’s cheek, kissing away one of his tears.

 

“H- Haruka-senpai!” Rei said, jumping back in surprise.

 

“You didn’t ruin our date,” Haru said, looking Rei in the eyes. He reached over, giving his hand a squeeze. “Actually, I had a lot of fun.” He smiled softly.

 

“You really mean that?” Rei asked, eyes widening.

 

“Yes,” Haru said, “now rest up.” He gave Rei’s head a gentle pat before laid down on his futon.

 

Rei smiled as he laid his head down. Haruka-senpai was truly beautiful, inside and out. And with that thought, he closed his eyes and drifted off into a deep sleep.

* * *

 

Rei was completely healed by Monday. He had felt almost better on Sunday, but still decided to take it easy just in case. Haruka-senpai had walked him home and texted him that evening to checkup.

 

Lunch with everyone on Monday was the first he had seen Haruka-senpai since then.

 

“Rei-chan! Tell me about your date!” Nagisa begged, tugging on Rei’s arm.

 

“Nagisa, don’t pry,” Makoto said, giving Rei a smile.

 

Thank goodness for Makoto-senpai. He didn’t want to relieve the disaster of a date.

 

“Rei spent the night at my place,” Haru said plainly, taking a bite of mackerel.

 

“EHHHHHH?!??!” Makoto and Nagisa said in unison.

 

“Ha- Haruka-senpai!”

 

“Rei-chan, so bold!” Nagisa teased.

 

“It wasn’t like that!!” Rei protested.

 

“Is that true, Haru?” Makoto asked.

 

“Yes,” Haru said “and he slept in my bed.”

 

“Rei-chan! On the first date?!” Nagisa exclaimed. Makoto wobbled a bit and Nagisa caught him. “Hang in there Mako-chan!” he cried.

 

“I’m telling you it wasn’t like that!” Rei said, his face growing hot.

 

“Don’t worry,” Haru said, placing a hand on Makoto’s shoulder. “I promise to take responsibility by taking Rei out on our next date.”

 

“I told you, its-” Wait. Next date? Was Haruka-senpai...asking  _ him _ out? Rei covered his face with his hands.

 

“Aw, Rei-chan’s blushing,” Nagisa teased.

 

“Shut up!” he yelled, causing Nagisa and Makoto to burst into laughter.

 

Haruka-senpai gave Rei a coy smile, and Rei’s blush deepend.

  
Yes, Haruka-senpai was beautiful...but perhaps a  _ bit _ more naughty than Rei originally thought.


End file.
